A knight's loving heart
by mihaelak22
Summary: What is a knight without a lady rulling his heart? Can a dagger separate what was written to come together? Can a kings do so? Or can a knight twist the fate and take what is his? AU:Absolutely Merlin inspired with the help of a dream...or a dream in a dream
It was beautiful day. Everyone was busy with his own duties. The maids were cleaning the windows of the castle. Merlin was keeping company of Arthur's horse near us. And of course we were training. There wasn't a moment when we weren't training until we drop. That was one of the main occupations of the knights of Camelot. As Leon and Arthur were fighting, we were watching and laughing at Gwaine who was imitating Leon like he had done all his life. I looked up towards the king's chambers with the hope to see her-the lady of my heart. She was no noble girl. She was actually queen Guineviere's personal maid. She had arrived in Camelot a few years back, just at the time when Arthur was crowned king. Since then she was living with Gwen, while she was still maid as well, and working in the castle. When Gwen became our queen she became her personal servant. I was using every possible moment to steal a glance at her beautiful face and deep blue eyes. Every time I was returning to Camelot from a travel, I was coming home for her. Hearing her name made my heart jump every time. She had the lovely name of her mother-Kathrene.

I did see her. She was standing there next to the queen talking to her. Her gaze wandered and stopped at me. I couldn't hold back my excitement and awarded her with warm smile. She smiled back at me and that didn't escape the attention of her majesty. I assume she asked her about me but I got distracted as the king screamed my named. I snapped and looked confusingly around which made all the other knights laugh and I bet the queen and Kathrene laughed too. Apparently it was my turn to fight so I took my cape off, got my sword and got ready to show what I've got. Kathrene was watching so I had to be better than ever. I wanted to prove myself to her.

We started fighting. I was blocking the king's sword then I was attacking and he was blocking my attacks. It was never ending game of attacking and blocking and we kept on playing. I was already sweating and exhausted. We were about to stop fighting and shake hands as always when we heard a cry of a woman. Her cry was full of desperation and pleads to be saved. We turned towards the castle. From our spot we could see a man holding a knife to the queen's throat.

"Arthur, look out!" she screamed. Her face was wet of tears.

"Help me! Percival!" I turned around to see Kathrene being chased by an assassin. No one help her because all the knights were at the spot for training. I clenched my sword handle and run towards the man chasing down Kathrene. Screaming along with her, I lift my sword and stabbed him right under his arm. He fell on the ground. His blood was coloring the grass red. Before I could see what he was doing, he got a dagger from his belt and threw it towards Kathrene, who was standing behind me. I ran to her. The dagger had stabbed her in the stomach. She fell into my arms, her eyes were lifeless.

"Kathrene, don't leave me! Stay with me, please! You will not die, I will not let that happen." I took her in my arms and ran to Gaius's chambers. By that time the other knights along with the king had already saved the queen and threw the assassin into the dungeons. I stormed into the physician's chambers with her in my arms giving up her life with every minute.

"Gaius please, you have to help me! She is dying. Don't let her die! Do something!" I said, tears were streaming down my face.

"Put her here, on the bed! I'll do everything I can." He said, and pushed me a little bit after I laid her down so I would step back. At that point everyone knew that I had feeling for her. The knights had followed me and now everyone was waiting outside including Arthur and Guinevere. I was grateful that they came but at that moment all I was thinking about was Kathrene. Gaius ripped her dress around the dagger and carefully took it out. Then he cleaned the wound and put some yellow almost vomit looking ointment. He said that this will make the wound heal faster and after a few days I would see her standing on her own feet again. I so hoped he was right. I couldn't bear the thought to lose her before I even had her.

I came out of the room to let the others know how she was. I met a lot of sympathetic looks and warm smiles that also made me feel like they were pitying me.

"How is she?" asked the queen. I managed to say a few words about her condition, then I excused myself and went to my chambers where I let out my emotions. I cried like I never did before. I was tough guy, not any more. I closed my eyes and the scene of the dagger stabbing her repeated itself over and over again. My heart ached like it was iced over and the ice was slowly cracking. That night I swore to God and to myself that if Kathrene died of her wounds I would give up my knighthood and devote my life to roaming the world.

The night had fallen before I even knew it. The sun had hidden behind the mountain and the moon had replaced it. The time had continued to pass but her condition had not improved. It was worse than any battle wound I had ever had. I was bleeding with every tear I shed. I spent the next few days sitting next to her bed praying she would open her eyes and tell me 'Hey, what are you doing here', but she was silent, like a sleeping angel…my sleeping angel.

A few more days had passed. Arthur and the other knights were doing the impossible to make me think about something else. Arthur was giving me task after task to keep me busy so my mind would not wander back to those scary thoughts of losing her. I very clearly recall Merlin's face when he came running and told me, out of breath, that Kathrene had awakened. My knees started shaking, I couldn't control my hands and my heart was preparing to jump out of my chest. We both ran into Gaius's chambers to find her already having her first meal after that day I would never ever forget.

"Thank God, you're finally awake!" I said as I kneeled next to her bed. Tears were slowly crawling down my cheeks but what kind of men would hide his emotions from the women that ruled his heart. How else would she know he is real with her instead of seeing him let his emotions take control of him?

"I am awake. All your lovely words kept me alive all this time. You were my guiding lights back to the world of living." She said. Every single word burnt in my mind and in my heart. For a noble man, that dedicated his life to protecting the king, that was more than I had ever wished for in return for what I do.

A few more days had passed. Then days turned into weeks and she made full recovery. She stared doing her usual chorus again and I started hovering over her. I was so afraid that maybe she would lift something too heavy and accidentally hit herself and the wound would open again. Sometimes I even walked with her to her house in the lower city to make sure she will be safe and sound on her way.

"Do you want to come in?" she said one night when I turned to walk back to the castle after my usual walk with her to her home.

"Yeah, I would love to!" I managed to say after a while. I was a little taken a back. She was really taking the things between us slowly-a step at a time. Tonight everything felt different. The weather was warmer than usual, the moon was rising peacefully above us, the wind was gentle and we met a lot of smiles on our way.

We entered her house. It was two bedroom house, like most of the houses in the village. In the main room there was big table with just two chairs. Fresh fruits were placed on the table. She set the dinner and we ate and talked. It was so natural like we had done it a thousand times before. I would be fool if I don't mention how beautiful she looked in the candle light. Her white skin glowed with happiness and her eyes were filled with life. She was like a painting that I didn't want to destroy by touching it.

The time had passed quickly and by the moon position I could tell it was around half past midnight. I stood up making my way to the door and excusing myself for leaving when she took my hand and pulled me towards her.

"Would you stay for the night? Sometimes I need to know you are here to protect me." She said

I slowly nodded with a soft smile playing on my lips. She looked me in the eyes and somehow knew I went completely defenseless. She took off my cape and placed in on the table and did the same with my sword. Then she pulled the string of my shirt and untied it never breaking our eye contact in the meanwhile. In one simple move she pushed the shirt off my back and it fell on the floor. Her soft hands traced down my bare chest.

"You've been wounded many times." She said.

"Yes, I have been. But all the wounds make me stronger."

"Did it hurt when swords were hitting you so many times? She asked going from scar to scar with her eyes.

"Not as much as this one." I took her hand and placed in on my heart. "When you were stabbed my heart bled for what seemed like an eternity. And every time I saw you lying in that bed almost lifeless it ached unbearably bad. And when you are not safe the wound reopens and it hurts like nothing else I have ever experienced in my life."

Tears gleamed in her eyes. But all I said was true. I meant every word I said. She knew that. She stood on her tiptoes to reach me, snaked her hand at the back of my neck and pulled me down locking her lips with mine. They were just as soft as I thought they would be. I responded with no hesitation. I knew tonight was the start of something new. I had her by my side and I had a place in her heart and nothing else was more important to me that this.

Her dress fell down almost at its own, revealing to me her beautiful body. My hands craved to touch her, to feel her skin and to taste her love. I swept off her feet and took her to the bed all the while gazing into her deep and now smiling eyes. The moon was throwing a gleam on our bodies. We had each other and nothing could come to us. Not that night though. Our hands were interlaced, our lips were locked to each other and our bodies were collided in one. It was magical. And it was all I need to set my mind. The very next day I was going to ask Arthur to give me his permition and blessing to marry Kathrene. The life, I decided, was too short to waste in fears and shared looks in secret. The life is the time for mistakes, work, forgiveness and happiness. For everything else there is a place that awaits us. Kathrene and I shared all those things and went our road side by side. With the right companion it is all better.


End file.
